Dodgy tradesmen - websites?

[Steve]

Is there a website where I could leave a reverse-recommendation for a tradesman? I have had an awful time with a Painter and Decorator who I found out too late was an ex-con.

[Steve]

This is all rather pollyanna-ish

I found the fellow in a room he had no reason to be in, having gained entry from the scaffolding.

[Martin]

I wanted to do something similar a few years back after getting ripped by some bastard who botched the installation of a new heating system. I was going to put up a web page detailing what the bastard did, but I was advised by a solicitor friend not to, it's a legal minefield.

Ended-up just spreading the word to everyone I know, and anyone who would listen.

[PoP]

I retract what I said previously ;)

I thought you might have been referring to his workmanship, and I couldn't see the link between being a porridge merchant and a workman.

PoP

[Owain]

"PoP" wrote | Steve wrote: | >Is there a website where I could leave a reverse-recommendation | >for a tradesman? I have had an awful time with a Painter and | >Decorator who I found out too late was an ex-con. | By ex-con I presume you mean ex-convict? | It's also the case that he might have been inside because he had his | hand in the till someplace. That wouldn't immediately suggest he's a | bad workman either.

In fact one might take the viewpoint that if he's been taught a trade whilst inside, he's probably better qualified than many of those who've just picked things up on the way.

Owain

[Owain]

"Steve" wrote | >OTOH if he's been inside for stealing from little | >old ladies whilst doing some decorating maybe that's another matter. | This is very close. ... | I found the fellow in a room he had no reason to be in, having gained | entry from the scaffolding.

Do you have a friendly community constable you can have a discreet word with? If the chap is only out recently he may still be on probation. (Or there may be a whole string of crimes just waiting to be cleared up :-(

Maybe he just wanted the bathroom quickly though.

Owain

[BillR]

Sounds like an ideal front job for a thief to have. "Window cleaner" is an old favourite.

[Joe Lee]

You shouldn't. Your excellent previous response is still valid.

The OP originally said they had "an awful time" with this tradesman. When you asked what the awful time was, they replied with the above.

But this doesn't add up to a row of beans. There are a number of legitimate reasons why the tradesman might have been there, & their is no suggestion that he was actually doing anything which could be construed as an illegal activity, or prelude to crime.

If that's the worst accusation that the OP has, then I'd consider it as a recommendation.

Joe Lee

[RichardS]

Wise move.

A colleague of mine had a bad time with an ex-accountant. Billing for work not done, withholding company books without reason, plain incompetence. The works.

So... being a kind of abrasive "do now, think later" kind of chap, he put up a site detailing what happened. We all told him not to publicise this, but he did.... result was that ex-accountant (who IMHO seemed to have a bit of a screw loose, coupled with a very litigious streak) sued for defamation. He (ex-acc) didn't have a leg to stand on for the action, but to cut a long story short it still cost colleague what we estimate to be >£10k in legal fees in an out-of-court settlement, 16 months of hell, and great family stress.

Just don't get involved in this type of thing unless you can afford very good lawyers....

For the OP - the problem with such a reverse-recommendation site is that it could be used by other tradesmen to damage the competition. So you couldn't even really trust the reported information on the site.

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Simon Avery]

Hello Steve

Don't think so. The legal ramifications would make hosting such a thing a time consuming and painful process, I would think.

[Richard Caley]

e> If so I don't think that conclusions should be drawn from his past.

If you can't judge somoene on thir past, how can you judge them? Their future? Their looks?

[Gnube]

I recall there was a site in australia called notgoodenough. something or other, and it had plans to come to the UK too, not sure what happened but a bit of google work would probably turn it up, you could see how they handled it, wasn't half bad from vague memory.

Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}

[Alan Campbell]

You could register a free email and web space account, like hotmail and geocities. This would make it harder (but not impossible) to track you down.

Alan